For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this year, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights in the United States. Today's profile is Susan Minato.
Susan Minato is co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11, which represents more than 30,000 workers in the hospitality industry in Southern California and Arizona. Minato and a core group of leaders transformed Local 11 into a nationally-recognized labor movement leader in training rank-and-file leadership to win union growth, social justice policy, and electoral politics. The union was instrumental in the transformation of California to a blue state and continues to innovate in the areas of economic justice for working families. Under Minato's leadership, UNITE HERE Local 11 played a critical role in the leading the ground operation in Arizona for the 2020 election successes of President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Senator Mark Kelly, as well as the 2020 Georgia U.S. Senate runoffs for Ralph Warnock and Jon Osoff.
Minato is a 4th generation Japanese American. She started her career in worker justice as a labor lawyer for the Utility Workers (UWUA) and later left law to become an organizer. She has worked for UNITE HERE Local 11 since 1993. She is an International Executive Vice President for UNITE HERE, chair of trustees of the Hospitality Training Academy in Los Angeles, and on the executive boards of the Arizona AFL-CIO, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and the UCLA Labor Center.